I was curious as to what's needed to make the auto headlight feature work? I take it the car detects when it's dark so switches on the lights? I've got the stalk with the Auto feature on it (or I assume it is) where you rotate the dial one click towards you.

So how does this work? Is it a case of adding it through the proxy alignment procedure or are there sensors required to make it work?

Cheers guys

Mark

There's a combined rain and light sensor mounted on the windscreen in front of the interior mirror. It needs a different windscreen to accomodate it.
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Why would you want this? Do you have trouble noticing when it gets dark, or does it use up too many calories moving the switch? This is a bit of technology, "because we can", not because it serves any real useful purpose. It can also be dangerous.

Auto lights will often turn on as you pass under trees, or bridges, then turn off again shortly after once back into the light. This can cause others to think you have given way to them, so they will pull out, or pedestrians will step out. Although the lights stay on for a short period to try to avoid the "headlamp flash" syndrome, it still relies on others paying attention.

Scenario:
A vehicle is waiting to emerge right from a side road into a busy main road, near a bridge.
As you pass under the bridge, your lights come on, but the other driver is at that moment looking the other way. As he turns back towards you, he sees your lights go off and assumes you are giving way. He has not seen how long they had been on. This coincides with a gap in the opposite traffic, so he pulls out and you hit him.

This is exactly what happened to a Wiltshire police car within 2 hours of its first journey. Two policemen couldn't understand why a van had pulled out in front of the cleanest marked police car in the county. Van driver couldn't understand why the policeman would signal him out, then keep going. Wrote off both vehicles.

Flashing headlights isnt a signal for other roadusers to do anything... last time I looked it was a 'im here, incase you havent seen me' warning. I might even be wrong with that.

Even though I detect slight Luddite tendencies in Portland Bill, I'm inclined to agree with him on this one. It is a pretty useless feature. One thing though - Auto lights on some cars including the Stilo won't flash on and off quickly enough to look like a headlight flash. The headlights and sidelights come on straightaway when driving under a bridge/into a tunnel, then in the light outside the headlights turn off after about five seconds leaving the sidelights on for a further five seconds, then the sidelights go off. The two-stage 'off' makes it look like less of a flash. But good points made there all the same.

Two big problems with the feature as implemented on my Stilo:

- lights don't turn themselves on in foggy conditions. We get a lot of fog around here at this time of year, often until 10am, I have to turn the lights on and off manually anyway.

- when in Auto, the stalk can't be moved to main beam. This is presumably to reduce the risk of automatically turning on high beams with oncoming traffic. But it means that to get high beam, the switch must be rotated through 'off' and 'sidelights' to get the normal 'on' position. A delay has been built into the system so that the headlights don't go off. I wonder how many stalks have been broken in frustration.

I can see one time when auto lights would be nice to have - and that's when you're driving through many short tunnels. But then, you might as well just leave the lights on anyway. I'm a supporter of the "lights on whenever driving" school of thought, particularly in winter. As long as you don't have blue/purple HIDs fitted, anyway. And no fog lights please, they're annoying and generally on at the same time as perfectly-adequate dipped beam anyway

-Alex

I have it on mine. Th e auto lights are great especially if you go through a tunnel as they turn on so you can see the speexo etc. The rain sensor never quite gets the gap right when intermiten. Both are nice gimmicks to have but not worth paying through the nose to get them.

alexGS said:

Even though I detect slight Luddite tendencies in Portland Bill,

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That's the nicest thing anyone's said about me for weeks, thank you.

alexGS said:

then in the light outside the headlights turn off after about five seconds leaving the sidelights on for a further five seconds, then the sidelights go off. The two-stage 'off' makes it look like less of a flash. But good points made there all the same.

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But if the other driver is looking away for the first 4 seconds, he only sees the headlights go off and makes an assumption. This will happen in his sub-conscious, so will not pay attention to he sidelamps.

Remember: They ARE all out to get you.

Bear in mind I was just "curious" how it worked with the possibility of maybe setting it up but I'll make my own decision

Thanks for the info boysies

I got them on my wife's fiesta and I have to say I don't ever use it, and probably for the daftest reason ever.....and that is because every time I switch it to the "auto" mode, they come on ........and I look out and think "it's still light??" Surely the car doesn't think it's dark enough for dip beam? I personally don't like driving with my dips on in anything less than a grey day so tend to put them on manually to suit the light (or dark) ..... However if my car had it all in place and i could get it working then i would just because its there and it would annoy me knowing its there and not working and my curiosity would get the better of me! so Mark its your car and if you want auto lights then dammit you go get them!

I have a 2 month old Fiesta, tried the auto lights occasionally, they've never come on in dim light, when I would choose to use headlights. So mine is too late, yours is too early. Nice that Ford manage consistency (not).

Mines the one before yours then, perhaps someone complained ......... But I'm not surprised coming from (in my opinion) the worst main stream car company on the planet when it comes to quality

There's a sensitivity setting on the dash display on mine but the difference is so subtle that I can't tell which is the most sensitive and the manual is ambiguous on this point

gadge said:

Mines the one before yours then, perhaps someone complained ......... But I'm not surprised coming from (in my opinion) the worst main stream car company on the planet when it comes to quality

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Ford "quality" is like a wild west film set, looks good, but nothing substantial behind it. They are very good at presenting what looks lovely, at the cheapest possible price. Dishonest.

Fiat seem to be more honest. What you see is actually what you get.

Yeah I second that, each to there own but I don't rate them at all. I used to be a mechanic in the late 90's so the typical fords we worked on were mk2 fiestas, sierras and mk4/5 escorts and I could never understand what the fuss was about. They rusted just as bad as any fiat (in some cases like my old KA within 4 years!) they had prehistoric running gear, cheap interiors (not as bad as 80's fiats I must admit ) and clumsy styling? ....... I used to get sooooo much stick for buying a mk 1 panda as my first car yet it was far superior to any fiesta of the day - quieter, more power, better mpg, and never really rusted anywhere near as bad as they all said it would. Even today's focus looks drab

Sorry MarkThompson for hijacking your thread rant over

portland_bill said:

That's the nicest thing anyone's said about me for weeks, thank you.

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My apology I wrote seems to have got lost in the ether... so, sorry if you were mortally wounded by that comment.

But if the other driver is looking away for the first 4 seconds, he only sees the headlights go off and makes an assumption. This will happen in his sub-conscious, so will not pay attention to he sidelamps.

Remember: They ARE all out to get you.

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That is true.

Meanwhile, yesterday I quite enjoyed my auto headlights as they turned on when I drove into a multi storey car park... and off again when I drove out...

-Alex

alexGS said:

My apology I wrote seems to have got lost in the ether... so, sorry if you were mortally wounded by that comment.

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Really, not offended, just a bit of light silliness.

alexGS said:

Meanwhile, yesterday I quite enjoyed my auto headlights as they turned on when I drove into a multi storey car park... and off again when I drove out... -Alex

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Now that's one useful point of them. Can anyone find another?

They come under the 'looks good in the brochure' category but along with auto wipers they also come into the 'wouldn't be missed' and 'where's the override switch?' Categories